First Pakistan international date palm festival kicks off

KARACHI (APP): The first Pakistan international date palm festival and exhibition to bolster the country’s production and export of dates and its value-added products kicked off here at an expo center in Karachi, on Friday.

The festival and exhibition are being organized by the Ministry of National Food Security and Research and Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) in collaboration with the Embassy of United Arab Emirates (UAE) in Pakistan and the Khalifa International Award for Date Palm and Agriculture Innovation (KIADPAI).

Besides local growers and processors of date palms, 150 delegates from 8 countries participated in the festival and exhibition.

The Sindh Governor Kamran Khan Tessori, Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, UAE Envoy to Pakistan Hamad Obaid Ibrahim Salem Alzaabi, Federal Secretary NFSR Ali Tahir, Chief Executive TDAP Zubair Motiwala and Secretary General Khalifa International Award Dr. Abdel Wahhab Zaid cut the ribbon to inaugurate the two-day festival and exhibition.

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Sindh Governor Kamran Khan Tessori, speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the festival, termed the festival as a reflection of the friendly ties of Pakistan and UAE and said that it would not only open new avenues of sharing and cooperation for both the brotherly countries but also help in the promotion of Pakistani dates.

He said that there was vast potential for Pakistani dates in the global market and full access of Pakistani dates to the global market could earn precious foreign exchange for the country.

Tessori while stressing the unity and collaboration among the Muslim countries said that these countries possessed enormous capital, resources, and power and they could gain their due share in international trade through unity, coordination, and collaborative efforts.

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The governor stressed the need for commercial plantation, reducing post-harvest losses, value addition, and provision of technical assistance to farmers for enhancing production as well as export of dates. He urged the local growers, manufacturers, and exporters to leverage the technical expertise of UAE friends.

The Sindh CM Murad Ali Shah, in his address, said that Pakistan is ranked at number five in date cultivation and production where Date Palm was cultivated on 252,000 acres while date production in the year 2022 had remained over 730,000 tons.

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Sindh is the leading producer of dates which contributes more than 57% to the total national production while Khairpur is a major center for dates, producing more than 300 unique varieties, Murad Shah stated and added that a research center has been set up in Kot Deeji town, training programs have already been organized for growers in Khairpur and 8 solar gas hybrid dryers and 35 tunnel dryers have been installed to produce quality dates.

A project has been initiated to introduce palm cultivation in the Thar desert, for which Date Palm cultivation models have been obtained from the Gulf countries, he said and hoped that tissue culture technology will play a key role in accelerating the proliferation of these superior varieties.

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Ministry of National Food Security and Research and Pakistan Agricultural Research Council were working on the project and after evaluations of 38 different Date varieties 8 were recommended to be planted on a large scale while PARC was also working to enhance post-harvest processing and value addition, Murad Shah added.

The UAE envoy to Pakistan, Hamad Obaid Al-Zaabi, said that the unique festival reflects the commitment of both countries to develop agriculture, enhance agriculture production, and ensure food security.

UAE and Pakistan were working jointly to enhance agri-production and export through the promotion of modern technology and bolstering the bilateral relations in the agriculture sector, he said, and hoped that the festival would boost the export of Pakistani dates and significantly contribute to the national economy.

Federal Secretary MNFS&R, Ali Tahir, while reading out the message of Federal Minster for NFS&R, Rana Tanveer Hussain, said that Date Palm was an important part of our agriculture and the festival will play an important role in the development of the sector.

He unlined the need for the adoption of progress made in science and technology, information sharing, sensitizing farmers about modern cultivation techniques, and dealing with implications of the climate change.

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CE TDAP, Zubair Motiwala, highlighted the potential of Pak-UAE collaboration in tissue culture research and value addition of Date Palm and invited investors from UAE to invest and form joint ventures in value addition.

Secretary General Khalifa International Award, Abdel Wahhab Zaid, Consul General of UAE in Karachi Bakhit Ateeq Alroumethi also spoke at the occasion and said that UAE was committed to extend cooperation to Pakistan in every sector.

Later, the Sindh Governor and CM flanked by UAE diplomats awarded certificates and awards to the best growers and processors of Date Palm. They also had different stalls set up in the exhibition.